Verizon FiOS: Or Is It Just Time to Cut the Coax?

Here’s what Verizon says is the future of TV. Watch the video and see if you’re as skeptical as our Larry Press is. He isn’t betting on Verizon’s vision just yet, but he’s cut the coax to his home — virtually, anyway. Unbundled IP video, says Larry, is where it’s at right now.

In this video, Verizon tells us the future of home video will be a wireless LAN connecting connecting our TV sets and other devices to a Verizon FiOS server. Do you believe it? I’ve already cut the cord attaching me to the cable company — that is, I cut the coax-based cable service — but FiOS? Really?

I agree we will have more and more home LANs — already plenty of people are using Windows Home Server (WHS) — but I certainly do not expect my home LAN to be connected to a FiOS server. Do you?

Verizon doesn’t even offer FIOS in my neighborhood, and it is unlikely to be doing so anytime soon. If and when Verizon does actually offer FiOS, I suspect that it will be expensive with a lot of video “service” bundled in.

Truth is, I don’t want services from Verizon, I just want bits. I want my home LAN to be connected to unbundled IP video over the Internet. Is that too much to ask?

I’ve already taken my first step in that direction — which is, of course, virtually cutting the coax cable. That is, I canceled my cable TV service and connected our TVs to our home LAN using Roku boxes.

We use rabbit ears for local channels. This setup is far from perfect, but it is a good first step toward unbundled IP video.

Have you cut the coax? How do you like it? Email me at LPress@aNewDomain.net or just comment below.